Chicagoan Yaghdan Hameid was the original inspiration behind Kirk Johnson's The List Project. After working as a program officer with USAID in Baghdad, Yaghdan realized his partnership with the U.S. government was putting his family's life in danger.

Several years ago, west suburban native Kirk Johnson, a former USAID official in Baghdad and Fallujah, received a call for help from a former colleague. Johnson’s colleague, Yaghdan Hameid, worked with him at USAID in 2005 and was receiving death threats in Iraq.